The newly appointed Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Godswill Akpabio, CON, and his counterpart, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, have resumed work at the Ministry with the promise to leave huge footprints in the development of the Niger Delta region.
At the reception organized by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, mni, and management staff on Wednesday, 21st of August, 2019, in Abuja, the Ministers expressed their readiness to urgently address the developmental needs of the Niger Delta region.
Senator Godswill Akpabio, said that being from the Niger Delta region, it behoves on him to take the developmental challenges more seriously, hence, the issues of capacity building, inadequate infrastructure, poverty alleviation, youth restiveness, entrepreneurship, environmental degradation, amongst others, will be tackled head-on as he was not unaware of how these challenges negatively affected people of the region.
Akpabio pledged to work harmoniously with his counterpart to ensure that they lived up to the expectations of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Akpabio added that he loved leaving marks anywhere he worked and called on staff and management of the Ministry to ‘put all hands on deck to ensure that our developmental efforts yield fruits’.
In his remarks, the Minister of State, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, thanked staff of the Ministry for the warm reception accorded them and pledged to give his best in boosting the confidence imposed in him through their appointment. He expressed his eagerness to get to work.
In her remarks, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs. Didi Walson-Jack, mni, expressed confidence that the appointment of the new Ministers would change the narrative of the Niger Delta region. She also pledged the commitment of management and staff to the actualization of the vision of the present administration as well as the formulation and execution of policies, projects and programmes geared towards addressing the challenges of the region.
The Permanent Secretary added that to achieve the vision and goals of the Ministry, there was the need for it to solicit for financial, material and human resources, through partnerships, leverage on Corporate Social Responsibility as well as Public -Private Partnerships.
She also suggested that the Ministry worked with Federal, States and Local Governments, the private sector, development partners, Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGOs), Civil Society Organisations, amongst others. To ensure the Ministers succeeded, she urged management and staff to work as a team.
Walson – Jack also expressed hope that the Ministers would not just pass through the Ministry but leave indelible marks and ‘a legacy of uncommon development in the Niger Delta region.’
Deworitshe Patricia
Head, Press and Public Relations Unit
